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"I'm Moe Greene!"

posted 6 years ago by ecarle (14979)
6 replies | jump to latest

The Godfather is like, wall-to-wall great scenes, but I'm picking this one for this post:

The Moe Greene scene.

It comes relatively late in the picture and is designed, I think, to show the decided shift in power to Michael Corleone while subtly spelling out why he won't be able to wield that power as effectively as his father. It also tells us a thing or two about the relationship of Michael and Fredo, of course.

And it is great fun for Alex Rocco, the actor playing Moe Greene.

We're in Vegas. The movie is finally moving away from the cold, dark East Coast settings of most of the film and "out to the hot bright desert," though we see little of that.

Michael and his entourage come in. Michael's not happy that Moe Greene isn't already waiting for him (and we can figure that Moe Greene made sure NOT to be waiting for him.)

But Fredo has a small band and...crucially... a small group of pretty women...ready for Michael and his entourage.

And Michael tells Fredo: get rid of them. This is a telling bit of business. Not only does it tell us that Michael is "all business," but it suggests a coldness to his personality that edges towards the prim, the Puritan. Many male viewers of The Godfather (especially young ones) look at the "perk" of these beautiful women and figure: "Hey, to hell with the free gambling chips and the band....WOMEN." But Michael is not to be persuaded. Out with them.

It was suggested by some reviewers in the 70's that Michael Corleone was rather a Richard Nixon figure, rather than a JFK figure. And key to that was: no dallying with the ladies. Indeed, in Oliver Stone's biopic about Richard Nixon("Nixon" of 1995), there is a similar scene in which Nixon(Anthony Hopkins) pushes away women coming onto him at a friendly get-together.

Of course the fictional Michael and the real Nixon were married men, but the extent to which free sex is offered and refused well...JFK wouldn't have said no. There is also this: neither man likely wants the exposure to blackmail and public humiliation that "set up women" can be used for by political enemies.

So...out the women go. Fredo kicks them out in humiliated anger(along with one rather sweet-faced and confused old musician; its a tiny detail that hurts)and...

...Moe Greene comes in. Brash, flamboyant, making nice with Michael and offering free chips and...

Michael gets right down to business: "Can we buy you out?"

Moe's pretty brash in response. The nice guy act is over. "You...buy me out? No..I buy YOU out."

The stage is set for conflict. And Michael's cold tough guy act is probably not really as good as he thinks it is, for his business. Don Vito would have been more ...courtly?

Fredo crosses the room to the man he hopes can solve this: Tom the Consigulere(and adopted brother). But: no dice. "The Don is semi-retired and Michael runs the business now. You talk to him."

Another shift occurs as Michael demands to know why Moe Greene has slapped Fredo around in public. "I got a business to run, I gotta knock heads sometimes," replies MOe. Michael is not amused. "You kept my brother in line?"

More humiliation for Fredo. On the one hand, his little brother(Michael) is protecting Fredo's family honor, coming to his defense, helping him. On the other hand, older brother Fredo is now feeling the humiliation of knowing that Michael is his superior in the family chain of command."

And then we learn WHY Moe Green slapped Fredo: "He was banging cocktail waitresses, two at a time! People couldn't get a drink."

Again, male viewers of The Godfather -- especially younger ones as attested by comment boards and talk when the movie came out -- dug on the fantasy fulfillment of this statement. FREDO? Cocktail waitresses TWO AT A TIME? What's not to like?

Well...it demonstrates weakness for one thing. Michael wouldn't do that. And one senses that the reason Fredo GOT those cocktail waitresses is that they knew about his family connections. In other words, Fredo couldn't get them on his own without the Corleone name.

So Fredo is humiliated every which way even if hey -- he had a good time getting there(and he isn't married, so that's OK.)

Michael coldly pushes for the casino buyout and things deteriorate from there, as Moe Greene gets up to leave and famously bellows: "Do you know who I am? I'm Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were dating cheerleaders." At least Moe is willing to see Michael as the dating cheerleaders type.

Before this point, Moe starts to opine on what the Mob World knows: "I talked to Barzini. The Corleone family doesn't have that kind of juice anymore."

The stage is being set. With Don Vito at death's door(eventually), Michael is beset by rivals who simply don't think he has the juice to fight back and win. (Wrong.)

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

Moe Greene leaves, and Fredo -- with the authority a brother is supposed to have -- yells at Michael: "You don't talk to Moe Greene like THAT!"

Comes next one of the most important shots in The Godfather:

Slightly high angle, from Fredo's POV, looking down on Michael. Michael is in a medium shot, framed (it seems) by casino felt, and looking -- for the first time in the movie , really -- like a powerful, dangerous man. Hair slicked back(it had been loose and fluffy in his early scenes), expensive suit. But importantly, laser-like gaze. And his major line:

"Fredo, you're my older brother, and I love you. But don't ever take sides against the family again. Ever."

There's a lot in that line, but perhaps even more in how Michael LOOKS as he says it: he's the boss. And while he will acknowledge Fredo as his OLDER brother(entitled to respect), he then asserts his authority: siding with Moe Greene is siding against the family. Forbidden.

I don't know if, when Coppola wrote this scene, he had begun to think forward to the events of Godfather II(which, in the Michael/Fredo section were not from Puzo's novel.) Fredo WILL take sides against the family, again. For reasons which can be traced back to this very room, this very moment, in the first film. And Fredo will pay the consequences.

But no...I don't think Coppola was thinking about Godfather II when he wrote and shot this scene. It was a good enough scene on its own terms -- a great scene really, a "turning point" scene with things to say about the transfer of power, the assertion of authority(somewhat badly done on Michael's part, really), the role of sex in business negotiation(to be taken advantage of, or not) and...family pecking order.

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

And of course, it all pays off, maybe a half hour later...when Moe Greene is part of the montage of murders (all the rest in NYC, his in Vegas) that reflect Michael's assertion of power. And Moe gets the most memorable murder -- shot while nude under a towel on a rub-down table(vulnerable!), through his eyeglasses(vulnerable!) and right through his eye (REALLY vulnerable) with "ooh!" inspriring blood cascading out of his eye socket as he dies -- in an example of how the R rating was making a difference in how graphic violence could be.

Why does Moe Greene get the flashiest death in The Godfather?

Because..he's Moe Greene!

[–] BourbonKing (5777) 5 years ago

I always felt that the big transition and exposition of Michael as cold and calculated started back in New York where Vito, his capos, Mikey, Tom, and Carlo are all meeting to discuss things moving forward. We see Michael in the center of the screen sitting in the Don's desk. RIGHT THERE we see that the sceptre has been handed over and when Tom challenges Mike's decision to demote him to family lawyer in Vegas he quickly rebuffs him as not being a war time consigliere, which even the Don felt was a bit harsh and had to interject to let Tom down easy.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

There are certainly earlier instances, but perhaps the Moe Greene scene is where Michael presents himself "outside" and asserts his newfound power.

There is also the element of that key high angle shot of him looking up at Fredo -- the "new Michael" is here, hair greased back, more maturity, more meanness.

But back to the earlier instances. Yes, he is in the Don's desk and yes he does put Tom down...the power shift is certainly here.

Back earlier than that, we have the scene where the camera keeps tracking on him in a chair as he cooly lays out the plan to kill Solozzo the Turk and the crooked cop. Sonny hassles him a bit("Bada bing!") but Tom is appreciative of his planning.

Back earlier than that, we have his steady hands lighting the lighter that the shaky baker's hands cannot..

Frankly...and I remember this from the very first time I saw The Godfather...I felt Michael's tough authority was there right from the beginning, at the table with Kay at the wedding. He lays out to her his family, their bad deeds("...either his signature or his brains would be on the contract") his overall understanding of the Mafia world. And then he says, none too believably...."That's my family. That's not me."

So Michael is there all along as the new Godfather. I guess its just that one high angle shot of him at the end of the Moe Greene scene that says "he has arrived."

And he's NOT as effective as Don Vito. Too cold, too callous, too uncaring of those around him...

[–] johnmarti59 (2356) 5 years ago

I like how you write. Something I was never very good at.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Thank you! I'm sure you are better at it than you think...